End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument

CCB • Nov 30, 2022

News from the first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC) to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.

30 November 2022, Punta del Este, Uruguay - Representatives of governments, civil society, business, academia and other stakeholders have gathered this week in Punta del Este, Uruguay, for the First meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-1) to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.


Coalition Clean Baltic, and some of its Member Organizations, including the Swedish Society for the Nature Conservation, Ecoproject Partnership, and Ecoidea joined the negotiations along with many other civil society groups and movements around the world: IPEN, Break Free from Plastic, and Zero Waste Europe among the others.

Credit: IPEN

CCB believes that the Plastics Treaty process is an important opportunity to protect marine environment and public health from the harms of plastic, and ensure that global, and national control are in place to address the toxic impacts of chemicals and plastic, throughout their lifecycle.


At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the global ocean every year. Plastic pollution threatens food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change. Marine litter is a clearly visible problem for the Baltic Sea, and its coastline, and around 70% of the marine litter in the Baltic Sea is plastic.


“The current situation with plastics represents an example of unsustainable consumption and production model with harmful impacts on human health and the environment, especially on the marine environment”, comments Eugeniy Lobanov, CCB Hazardous Substances and Marine Litter Working Area Leader, and participant of INC 1 in Uruguay. He continues: "We advocate for a strong Plastic Treaty, which will address plastic pollution throughout the full lifecycle of plastics. We think that the future Treaty shall address the whole lifecycle of plastic as a material in general rather than addressing specific plastic products or waste. It is also important that the treaty shall address the harmful health effects from chemicals in plastics, and recognize that toxic chemicals make plastic incompatible with a circular economy approach.”



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Article written by Eugeniy Lobanov, CCB Hazardous Substances Working Area Leader.

Nature Restoration Law supported by 75% of citizens in countries not backing the law

By CCB • 16 May, 2024
EU Member States not supporting the Nature Restoration Law are at odds with public opinion. This is the result of a poll conducted in the Netherlands, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, which shows that three out of four citizens are in favour of the legislation, as pressure mounts on Member States to adopt the long-awaited law. The Nature Restoration Law, an EU response to the interlinked climate and biodiversity crises, has been in a stalemate since March when it lost the necessary majority from Member States, following Hungary’s last-minute U-turn. Now, a new survey - which was conducted by Savanta with 6190 respondents across the six Member States - reveals that the majority of people in countries not supporting the law believe that nature and biodiversity decline will have negative long-term effects on people, farming and the economy and that it must be tackled urgently by restoring ecosystems. The Nature Restoration Law received the biggest support in Italy with 85% of citizens backing it, followed by Hungary with 83%, and Poland with 72%. While in Finland and in Sweden, respectively 70% and 69% of the people supports it. Only 6% of those surveyed disagreed that the law should be adopted. The full results can be consulted here .

Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Ottawa - INC4

By CCB • 24 Apr, 2024
On April, 21 the 4 th session of Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee to develop a global plastics treaty has started in Ottawa, Canada. Coalition Clean Baltic along with some of its Members, including SSNC, ASC/CES, and Ecopartnerstvo is taking part in INC-4.
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